Two flights, one each from Air India and Jet Airways, were grounded for almost eight hours on Wednesday following a bomb scare. Later both the flights took off in the evening. According to sources at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), the two flights were halted after the Jet Airways security office at IGIA received an anonymous call saying there was a “bomb threat” to Air India flight AI-215 and Jet Airways flight 9W 260. The two flights were scheduled to take off for Kathmandu at 11.50 am and 1.30 pm respectively.
The Jet Airways plane’s doors were closed and it was ready for take-off when the alert was raised, according to a Jet Airways spokesman. All 122 passengers and seven crew members were asked to leave the plane and security agencies began investigating. The Air India flight had 121 passengers on board, including the crew.
This is the second such incident of grounding of an aircraft due to a bomb scare. On Saturday, the same Jet Airways flight was delayed by six hours as the plane was grounded after a bomb threat call, which turned out to be a hoax. The two aircraft were taken to the isolation bay, where security personnel from the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) carried out an extensive search of the baggage and check-in luggage of the passengers, the sources said. “Jet Airways flight 9W 260, scheduled to depart from Delhi for Kathmandu at 1.30 pm has been delayed due to a security alert. All 122 passengers and seven crew have been taken to the departures waiting area at the airport,” Jet Airways said in a statement. Air India also said that the flight has been delayed due the same reason.
Alert sounded as suspicious balloon spotted
Gurgaon: An alert was sounded in the NCR after a suspicious balloon was noticed in Gurgaon on Wednesday, police said.
Informed sources said the Delhi Police issued the alert after Gurgaon Police first spotted the balloon in its area. Indian Air Force and Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport authorities were also alerted. The development comes a day after the IAF said it shot down “an unidentified balloon” in Barmer, Rajasthan.
Gurgaon Commissioner of Police Navdeep Singh Virk said: “At about 3.15 pm, patrol guards at the IAF Station on the Gurgaon-Faridabad road reported the sighting of an unidentified red-and-white balloon of about one-metre diameter, flying 1-1.5 km high towards Aya Nagar in Delhi from the Gurgaon-Faridabad Road side.
“The Gurgaon police control room alerted its counterparts in Delhi and Faridabad. No balloon has been recovered as yet but further enquiries are in progress.” Later, Delhi Police said the balloon had been launched by the MeT Department. “The so called suspicious balloon is of the Met Department. All safe. Please do not panic.” Delhi police tweeted.